I knew you were trouble
by Etinceler
Summary: They say you just can't let nature run wild. Tori's never questioned it until she meets Jade and starts getting into things she didn't even know existed. Jade's that one person the turns Tori's world upside down leaving the latina desperately longing. She just has to get used to the smell of wolf urine. Jori AU.
1. Alone doesn't mean lonely

_She doesn't stop to breathe even though her lungs cry out in pain. She ignores the throbbing in her legs and her mind lets her go numb as she runs through the words. She jumps over stumps and under low branches like she had done so many times before. She knows not to look back, she learned the hard way how dangerous glancing backward can be. You never look back when you run, only forward. Her ears barely register the shouting and shots fired behind her. _

_She pants uncontrollably as her lungs finally give in and she forced to stop and hide behind a tree. She holds a hand to her mouth and forces herself to stop breathing when she hears feet catch up to her. She shuts her eyes and silently prays to the god she doesn't believe in. _

_The foot steps drown away and she lets her body succumb to pain as she drops her hand from her mouth. _

_Jade West escapes death again. _

* * *

**Alone doesn't mean lonely.**

Raven locks fly in the cool night breeze as the she sits atop the hill over looking the small lit up city she calls home. A home that constantly chases her out. Jade sits on a rock and pretends she doesn't feel the cold brush against her skin.

Her phone vibrates in her dark blue jean pockets, she decides to ignore it and focus on staring at the city instead.

Her ears ring with the sounds of echoing footsteps approaching her, she doesn't budge. She knows those footsteps, she memorized the uneven pace and the thumping a long time ago, and she can't help but to smirk.

"Beck," She mumbles, addressing the man now behind her.

"You didn't answer your phone." He says, crossing his arms.

"That was like five seconds ago," She chuckles, a puff of white escaping her lips, "Hope you didn't trip over your tail running here."

"It's a full moon tonight," The brunette teenager runs a hand though his shaggy hair, "You should go home."

Jade looks up towards the aubergine sky, smiling at the sight of the large illuminating circle in the sky surrounded by tiny dots.

"I can control myself."

"I know," Beck sighs, "It's the others I'm worried about."

"The hunters or the wolves?"

"Both."

"Well I never say no to a bit of fun."

Beck smiles, "You're coming back?"

"No," Jade spits, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "I'm gonna have some fun."

Beck rolls his eyes and approaches his best-friend, placing a gentle hand on her bare shoulder. "Your night of fun usually ends in you getting shot."

"I can handle myself."

Beck raises his brow at her, "You can't heal like the rest of us."

"Well I'm tired of sitting in that damn house!" Jade pushes Beck's hand off her shoulder and stands up to turn and face the boy. "Let me go."

Beck offers her a weary smile, "Just don't do anything reckless."

"I'll be home before diner,_ mom_, " Jade jeers, "I'll be fine, Beck."

"That's what you said last time.." He traces his finger along a scar running over Jade's eye brow. "You can't heal like the rest of us." He repeats.

"Mom," Jade grins, "You're embarrassing me."

Beck lets out a dry laugh and sticks his cold, pink hands into his pockets. "I'll tell Cat you're gonna be out."

Jade's eyes soften as she smiles back at Beck, "We gotta stick out for each other." she outstretches her clenched hand to Beck.

"We only got each other," He takes his hand out of his pocket and bumps his fist against Jade's.

"But that's all we need." They say in unison, later laughing at their own cheesiness.

It was a chant they would often say together, the first line said by Jade, the next by Beck and the last by Cat, their other friend. It was a chant first said to a crying Cat by Jade and Beck to comfort her after she had lost her mother, Jade and Beck were orphans and were often jealous that Cat had a family but they knew the pain of loosing a loved one and they didn't want to see Cat go through that alone like they had. Then they started saying it whenever they felt scared, to remind themselves that they weren't alone, and finally it became a normal goodbye for them. It was perhaps the most comforting three sentences that they three of them have ever heard or had the pleasure of saying.

Jade spins on her heel and dashes as fast as she can through the woods, her lungs and legs can handle much more than they could when she was younger and she's grateful for that. Not as grateful as she would be if she was on the same level as Beck or Cat, but she also knew she was special in her own way.

She drops to her arms and starts running like an animal, gaining speed. The wind rushes past her, scents filling her nose as her senses whirl around her. She bolts past tree after tree until she reaches a fence blocking rough concert that stretches into a road. There's a sign that says "danger: wolves" and Jade can't help but to smirk at it. She jumps over the fence with ease and is running down the road before the shock can even wear off her feet.

She looks as if she was running away from a monster, they way she runs so quickly and so determined as if she had a place in mind. She doesn't, she just likes to run, and god, does she love the night.

They fence beside her leaves her peripheral vision, the road in front of her blurs. She feels like she's running on clouds and the world has just forgotten about her. She doesn't notice the branch she somehow manages to subconsciously jump over. She doesn't even care about the squirrel that has to veer out of her way. Right now it's just her and the wind blowing her raven hair back.

So she's surprised when she finds her self in front of a small cabin hidden by an abundance of trees.

"Guess a dog always come home, huh?" She mumbles to herself as she steps on to the creaky deck and knocks on the door. "It's me."

The door flings open to reveal a nervous looking blonde-haired man.

"Mr. Valentine," Jade smiles, "You gonna let me in or.."

"H-h-have you seen Cat...?" The man gulps, "She went out with Jon and hasn't come ba-"

"Woah," Jade extends her hand out, gesturing for the blond to stop talking. "How long has it been?" She asks, although she already knows the answer.

"About a minut-"

"They're fine, now let me in." Jade rolls her eyes, sick of having to go through the same routine. She promised herself though that no matter how many times the man says it, she'll always take it seriously because one day Cat and her younger brother, Jon, might actually be missing.

"Uh, yeah," He moves away from the door allowing Jade to walk in.

Then they hear a scream and a growl that is unmistakably Jon and it's like all other thought is irrelevant.

/

"_Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." __  
__― Mark Twain_

* * *

**I hate writting into-chapters! Arg. Anyways, I hope you all like it so far :D let me know what you think! Review, Review. I don't really wanna make this too long so I hope you don't mind me jumping into it head on, kinda like the colour purple, where they just blatantly state she gets raped by her husband on the first page..but uh... no where near as good as the colour purple. But asides that, chapter one is short 'cause it's chapter one and arggg I HATE WRITTING INTRO CHAPTERSSSSSSS.**

**Some notes:**

**Cat has a younger brother here instead of an older one and you'll see why**

**I've settled on Jade's eyes being a bright, light, blue. **

**This is SLIGHTLY based of Taylor Swift's song as you must have guessed**

**And it is inspired by Teen Wolf because I've always love Were-wolves and they can be just as sexy as Vampires when written right, in fact, they're even sexier...because they aren't all undead, old and immortal..ugh.**

**Also, Mark Twain is my childhood... and I made that story picture thing.. I had way too much fun with it. **

**Thanks for readin'**


	2. Cabin in the woods

"_There you are you little bitch," A man with dark hair and even darker eyes stands over her cowering body, he presses his cold revolver to her head._

_Jade looks up at the man and tries her best to blink away her tears. _

"_You're a monster," He spits on her, "I'll be more than glad to-"_

_A gun shot rings out and bloody, unmoving body falls on her. _

"_Jade!" A woman calls out, "Jade!"_

_Jade doesn't have the power in her to respond so she waits for the woman to discover her shocked body under a dead man. _

"_Jade, baby." The woman coos, wrapping her arms around the girl, "You're okay."_

_Jade West escapes death again._

* * *

**Cabin in the woods. **

She hears all about it, the cabin in the woods where the wolves live.

She doesn't know that a family lives there though, a family not fully related by blood, but a family that's more like the closest group of friends you'll ever meet.

She hears that it abandoned instead, but on the full moon, the wolves meet there, plotting.

That's a lie though, during the full moon, wolves are forced to hide there, to save themselves from the viscous hunters.

But Tori doesn't know that, she can't tell weather her friend is lying or telling the truth and she's sure she'll never find out.

She hears all about the tales surrounding it as her friend Andre tries to get her to accompany him on his quest to find it.

She doesn't want to go in the woods though, the small city they live in as a severe wolf problem, resulting in the death of many curious teenagers.

"Andre," She whines, "I really don't think this is a good idea."

"It's a great one." Andre beams, "I brought my dad's shotgun, did you know they raised the reward for a dead wolf from a thousand to two?"

Tori shakes her head, still unsure, "Do we really have to do this? They wolves are happy where they are and I am happy spending my Friday night's watching T.V."

"Come on, two thousand dollars," He whips his head quickly to the side to smile at Tori then he whips it back to the front so he can see the empty road. "You need that money, you can finally fix your busted up scooter..seeing as though you can't drive.."

"Shush!" Tori laughs, "I just don't think killing is the answer."

"They kill dozens of us a year! We can't exactly talk to wolves."

Tori slumps in the leather car seat, silently telling Andre that she has no comeback.

/

"I told you this was a bad idea!" She shouts, hiding behind Andre as a small brown wolf nears them.

Andre's shaky hands grip the shotgun, he tires to fire at the wolf only to have it miss and hit the floor.

"Shit!" He moves back along with Tori. He made the mistake of looking right into Jon's gleaming golden eyes early on and now couldn't stop shaking.

The wolf growls again, trying to get them to run as he wasn't a big fan of murder.

Tori screams and a new resolve fills Andre, he holds the shotgun up and steadily aims it, he locks his finger in place and pulls it down without a second thought.

/

They live in a cabin in the woods.

It's not their first choice, but it's their only one.

It's in the centre of the forest many get lost in so it's easy for them to keep track off who or what wonders in and out of the woods. It's surrounded by trees and the heavy stench of wolf urine that marks their territory.

Jade's been living in the small cabin all her life. She remembers a time when the cabin didn't look like something out of a horror movie, she remembers a time when the house was filled with happy wolf puppies not injured ones.

She remembers a time that seems so long ago it's like a dream, and Jade almost believes it is.

Jade hears gun shots and screaming and before Josh Valentine can say anything, she's already running towards the sounds.

Her mind is numb, she doesn't want to consider the worst or even the best scenarios, she only wants to focus on finding Cat and Jon.

She follows the low whimpering of Jon, hoping he's only just seen a large spider.

"-doing here?"

She hears the voice of a young man and pushes herself up against a near tree, she doesn't need to be very close to the scene to know what's going on. She sees Cat talking casually with a girl and a guy.

"Cat!" Tori yells enthusiastically, before covering her mouth in bewilderment, "Andre, you shot her arm!"

Andre drops the gun and blinks, "I'm so sorry Cat."

Cat shakes her head, glancing over her shoulder to the whimpering Jon whom she silently tells to go hide with Jade who she had heard running.

"It's fine," She says happily, "It's just rock salt right? I can cook myself now."

Andre and Tori laugh nervously, causing Cat to feel the uncontrollable urge to make them smile.

"Yeah," Andre adds, "How'd you know?"

Cat smiles, of course she'd smelt the rock salt before it'd even been fired, but she yells, "What's that supposed to mean?" instead of the truth.

Tori pulls her PearPhone out of her pocket, "But you still need a doctor," the irish-latina smiles, pressing a button on her phone and watching Cat worriedly as it lights up.

"Uh, my dad's a doctor." Cat runs to Tori and envelops her in a hug, attempting to get her to forget about her fruit-shaped phone.

"I thought he was a vet?" Andre slips off his jacket and wraps it around Cat's wound.

"Same thing!" Cat smiles, "Call my dad instead."

"I think you need a hospital." Tori pries herself away from the cheery red-head.

"I don't like hospitals, call my dad." Cat grabs Tori's phone and dials Jade's number.

Jade's phone vibrates in her pocket, her and Jon share a look of confusion before she answers it.

"Hello?"

"Dad!" Cat says enthusiastically as if she was talking to her dad.

"Cat.. what are you do-"

"I kinda got a boo-boo."

Jade laughs, "Boo-boo? You're not five Cat and I heard, I can pull out the rock salt for you."

"That would be great! I'll be on the other side of the forest, dad."

"Why didn't you call your dad?"

"I'll talk to you later, daddy."

"Cat, I'm no-"

"Bye, Love you."

_Beep. Beep._

"She hung up on you," Jon jests.

"Shut up naked boy." Jade says, gesturing to his clotheless body. "Run home, I'll bring Cat."

"Dad says he's coming!" They hear Cat yell, and Jon quickly disappears into the dark woods, leaving Jade to go back to eavesdropping.

"Cool," Andre stuffs his hands into his pockets, "We'll wait for him with you, least we can do."

Tori nods, not the least bit bothered by being forced to stay in an eerie, dark forest.

Cat smiles nervously, "Do something, Jade." She whispers, low enough for Tori and Andre not to hear, but just enough for Jade to catch wind.

"But damn, that was something!" Andre grinned wide at Cat, "The way you jumped in front of my bullet, you were like inhumanly quick."

Cat laughed, "What's that supposed to mean?" She said, actually meaning it this time.

"Well you were like this quick, black blur that jus-"

"Cat, is that you?" Jade calls out, in the deepest voice she can muster.

"I thought your mom was dead?" Andre raised an eyebrow but was quickly elbowed by Tori, who deemed his comment rude.

"D-daddy!" Cat calls back, relieved but anxious about Andre's comments.

"Are you sure that's your dad? Sounds awfully fem- OW, stop jabbing me Tori."

"Cat?" Jade calls out again, trying her best not to snicker.

"Daddy!" Cat runs away from her confused friends and into Jade's arms.

"You can't just make fun of the way her dad sounds!" Tori shouts, hitting Andre on the arm.

"But he sounded like you when you try to do a man voice." Andre reasons to the annoyed latina

"You need to apologize to Cat properly, she's gonna have an ugly scar because of you."

"Yeah, damn that girl's tough, I woulda cried."

Tori nods, too tired to think much of it, "Let's just go home."

"Maybe another day?"

"No," Tori says sharply, "I don't need any money and neither do you."

"Alright," Andre sighs, "Revenge is best left for another day I guess."

Tori offers her friend a confused look, but decides not to press.

Cat and Jade listen eagerly until they hear the sounds of a car starting a driving off.

"God," Jade groans, "They insulted my man voice. Who were they?"

"Friends from school," Cat explains causing Jade to groan again, she didn't like the idea of school. She was also slightly jealous that the Valentine family hadn't been found out and Cat could at least pretend to live normally.

"Well, let's get that rock salt out." Jade smiles warmly at Cat, unwrapping Andre's thin jacket from Cat's arm, revealing three lumps in her skin. "Damn," Jade mumbles, "Healed over it."

Cat squirms, pleasantly uncomfortable being so close to Jade.

Jade's nails grow out into long claws that she then presses it to Cat's pale skin. She easily tears through the skin and digs out three lumps of salt.

"Why didn't you call your dad?" Jade asks, watching in awe as the wound quickly heals.

"He'll freak out, and never let me go out again." Cat casts her eyes downwards and she pushes herself off the floor.

"Like with the stove?" Jade smiles, remembering how Cat had accidentally burnt herself trying to cook macaroni and cheese and how her dad had forbid her to go near a stove again.

Cat nods, "He's so worried after what happened to him and you, it's like he forgets I can heal."

Jade stands up and walks back towards the cabin with Cat, "Well he's not even a wolf anymore, that's some hard stuff to get used to."

"He's still my dad, and he's still a wolf.. he just can't.."

"Do what we can do."

Cat pauses, "Yeah."

"Yeah," Jade copies, "Yeah."

/

"_Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been." __  
__― Mark Twain_

* * *

**And now the story kicks up, URG. Introchapters, I hate them. Well that's it, double update today. Intros out of the way, time for shit to get reals.**

**Thanks for readin'**


	3. Inception

_She was only five._

_Her mother and father are the only people she knows. Living in a small cabin in the woods will do that to you, but she doesn't mind. Her parents and the animals are all she needs. _

_She walks out of the small cabin and into the woods, basket in hand and parka draped over her small body. _

_She bends over to pick up the small purple flower that grows around their house. _

_Then it happens. _

_A man rushes her, knife in hand, and blood streaming down his face. He yells something about demons but he his slammed to the floor by her father before Jade can really process what he's saying._

"_Run inside!" Her father commands, Jade nods and runs into the cabin, peering out the living room window to see what would become of her father and the man. _

_She watches terrified as her father so easily snaps the neck of the man and toss his body to the wolves that then drag him away._

_Her body slumps to the floor and she is overwhelmed with tears that she isn't sure why she has._

_Jade West escaped death for the first time. _

* * *

**Inception. **

It wasn't that her school was boring, in fact, she liked math class, much to the teasing of her friends. It was just that friday's events replayed over and over again. When she had seen Cat this morning she was surprised in more ways then one. The girl had been wearing a t-shirt in the dead of autumn. The girl had her hair done in a rare braid. Perhaps the most surprising of them all was that Tori couldn't spot a scar anywhere on Cat's arm. She had seen the blood that day, she had gotten a glimpse of wound she knew very well that a shot like that would leave scars.

So she spent math class scrutinizing Cat's arm, desperately searching from some type of a scar. Her mind forges the reality that the girl must have gotten plastic surgery and, seeing as Tori was no scar expert, she almost believed herself.

She decides to let other details about the girl fill her brain as she takes in Cat's cherry red hair and deep brown eyes. She realized in that moment that she doesn't know much about her friend. She had never visited the girl's house, nor does she even know the girl's full name. It's like they weren't even friends, every time Tori brought up a personal subject or was nearing one, the girl would yell "What's that supposed to mean?" and run as if she didn't want to talk. Tori wouldn't force Cat to say anything she wasn't comfortable saying, but the constant pushing away was irking Tori.

She knew the girl had supposed changed much after loosing her mother, and while Tori didn't know that pain, she was under the impression that Cat was still mourning and really, when does one stop mourning?

It takes Tori a while to realize the bell has rung, signalling the end of math class and of school. Her mind's buzzing with thoughts and it takes until she's packed up to notice Cat's smiling face beside her.

"Your house?" She asks, almost jumping in her spot.

"uh..for..?" Tori raises an eyebrow at her bubbly friend.

"Music assignment... it's due tomorrow, remember?"

Tori's eye widen as the realization hits her. "Oh gosh, I completely forgot!" She purses her lips as she thinks, "We can't go to my house though, kitchen reno going on and I can't think with all the noise and smell."

Cat smiles back at her friend, nervously shifting as she grips the straps of her backpack, "Where should we go?" Her knuckles slowly turn white.

"How about your house?"

Cat can feel a lump stick itself in her throat, she feels sweat start at her head. The red-head feels the urge to run and leave Tori behind, but she figures she owes her friend at least a lie, "Uh, sure. I'll call you once I check with my step-dad to see if it's okay."

Tori nods, "I get it, just make sure to call before 8, Trina's in this play and I have to go see it."

Cat takes a step back, "Yep, I'll call before then." Then she's out the door, sprinting down the halls and out the door.

"I didn't know she had a step-dad," Tori mumbles to herself.

* * *

She hasn't been there in so long that it feels like she never lived there. It's not a place she ever called home, to her home was where her mother and father were happy. And this house definitely wasn't a place where her mom and dad are happy. It's the place where her mother died and her father was never invited in.

She knocks on the door with three rhythmic thumps.

She expects to see the face of a woman she doesn't know open the door attired in deshelved clothing, and when that happens she almost smiles at it.

"Hi," The woman says cautiously, as if threatened by the girl in front of her.

"Is Wesker home?" Cat offers the woman a warm smile.

The woman brushes off the smile, raising a brown at the girl, "Yes...he's uh...upstairs."

"Can I talk to him?"

The woman shifts her weight, "Why?"

"He's my step-dad," Cat explains, understanding what the woman was really asking, "I need to talk to him."

The woman moves away from the door, letting Cat walk in and easily navigate her way to the living room couch, where she takes a seat as the woman calls for Wesker then takes a seat across from her.

"Are you Wesker's girlfriend?" Cat asks suddenly.

The woman nods and Cat's not really surprised when she hears the woman's heart rate spike, it's a lie.

Every time she makes the mistake of visiting she's greeted with the same scenario, not all the woman are friendly with Cat, but the redhead couldn't care less. At first, it hurt. It hurt the most to see the two people you loved the most break off what you most admired about them and watch as they moved apart, destroying a life you once knew. It's even worse, to see someone you love die. But what really kills Cat on the inside, is seeing the very man that her mother had chosen, pretend like he didn't care she was dead. Pretend like he could continue his life like nothing happened. Pretend like it didn't effect him. Cat would never understand why anyone would move on so quickly, like the whole thing had been a bad dream that's easily forgotten in the morning.

Cat can hear someone zip up their pants upstairs, she hears the bed creak and she hears this person lick their lips. It hurt, it hurts her so much that she's gone numb about it.

"Well, I've got work," The woman says, getting up and dashing up the stairs.

Cat can hear the two kiss passionately and make plans for tomorrow, plans that she could do without hearing.

Wesker comes down the stairs, smiling at Cat like he truly cared for her.

"Cat," He coos warmly, "What are you doing here?"

"I was wondering if a friend and I can do a project here, for about an hour or two."

Wesker shakes his head, "I'm busy all day." He says, and Cat knows exactly what he means.

Cat gets up, not really wanting to argue, "I get it," She sighs, "I get it."

Wesker smiles softly, "Cat, is there any where else you can go..? How about where ever you're living now?"

"No I really can't." Cat says, more harshly than she meant it. She's already thought it over, Beck's RV is anything but suitable, it's cramped, old and in the junkyard. The cabin is an immediate 'no', even though it's what she calls home now, and she isn't allowed into the clinic where her father works for the same reason he works graveyard shift, they can't risk anyone getting suspicious as to why the dogs seem to react around them as the rest of the animals become anxious.

Wesker offers an apologetic look that he knows Cat won't accept. The redhead is out the door before he can even give her another terrible solution.

She spends the rest of her time just crying some where she knows Jon, Beck, or Jade can't hear her. She just wants to cry without anyone trying to comfort her. Although she does enjoy Jade's comforting technique, it's just an arm over the shoulder, a tissue, a tub of ice cream, a few funny remarks and a sideways grin she once lusted for and maybe, unadmittedly, still fawns over. Right now though, she just wants herself.

She shuts her eyes and leans against the cold brick wall, letting drowsiness pull her into a much needed slumber.

* * *

_7:34 _

Tori impatiently taps the screen of her PearPhone to insure it doesn't fall dim.

_7:35_

"Alright that's it." Tori jumps off her bed abruptly, new firmness filling her.

She pulls up the on-screen dial pad, she taps the side of her phone nervously.

"I don't know her number," she mumbles.

Frustrated, Tori falls back on to the bed almost wanting to curse at her phone for somehow pulling up her call log. Then, like a fire cracker, her brain flashes into numbness before conjuring up a solution.

She decides to scroll through until she reaches the number Cat had dialled Friday night, that was her dad's number, right? So Tori thought, and while Cat has talked about asking her step-father, Tori was sure that her biological father would know Cat's whereabouts, _if_ that was who Cat had called that night.

She taps the number and pulls the phone to her ear, smiling ear to ear, proud of her supposedly ingenious idea.

_Jade's phone buzzes in her pocket and she groans, how many times had it gone off in the past few days? She almost regrets buying it, then she remembers the only five people know her number, so it's alright. She whips the phone out without checking the number and tapes the green button before pressing the phone up to her ear. _

"Hello?"

/

"_You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."  
― Dr. Seuss_

* * *

**Yeahhhhhh, proper chapter up, what do you think? Let me know :D Thank you for all the reviews! I'll start mentioning you guys next chapter, but yes, thank you! Also thinking of re-writting chap 1 cause it's kind of crap.**

**Thanks for readin'**


	4. Dangerous vanilla

_There's pause as she takes in Jade's new appearance. _

"_Wow," she mutters, "You're a real were-wolf."_

_The corners of Jade's black lips moving upward. _

_The girl smiles back and moves forward, she runs her hand through Jade's black fur, "I love you just the same." she says, kissing the top of Jade's head gingerly. _

_She took it well, Jade's first girlfriend took it really well. Her previous boyfriend had been so repulsed he moved away, but she took it well. _

_Too bad her father didn't approve._

_It started with him noticing the fur on the couch (Jade's girlfriend was quite fond of Jade's wolf form and often demanded that she enlighten her)._

_Then he noticed the bite and claw marks on his daughter (Jade gets rough when she's passionate)._

_And finally, it clicks. His shotgun clicks not so shortly after._

"_Get away from my daughter!" He shouts, bursting into his daughter's bed room and interrupting a heated kissing session. _

_Jade and her girlfriend snap up._

"_Dad?" She says, "What are you doing?"_

"_Saving you from that monster." He spits, "Jade, get out."_

_Jade's heart sinks, somewhere in her teenage mind she had imagined this lasting forever. She jumps off the bed along with her girlfriend who doesn't let her leave through the window liked she had planed. _

"_You can't do this dad," She argues, gripping Jade tighter. _

"_Yes, I can." He fires a round into the ceiling and Jade's ears ring uncontrollably as her body slumps to the ground. She cuffs her ears and groans. _

"_Dad," She pleads, "Stop."_

_He fires another round and Jade instinctively snaps her head to the man and growls. _

"_I love her." She whispers, and he fires a round into Jade's leg. _

_The young shape-shifter howls in pain, her girlfriend slinking down beside her. _

"_Jade," she coos, she whispers other words into Jade's ears but she doesn't hear them. Her mind and body are overwhelmed with red. _

_And when she opens her eyes, she sees a man covered in red with a crying girl beside him._

"_Leave," she cries, "get out."_

_Jade ignores the blood jammed in her nails and splattered over her, she just runs out the window and back home like she had planned from the beginning._

_Whatever is left of her girlfriend's family moves far, far away. _

_But Jade West, lives to see another day in the same dreary city. _

* * *

**Dangerous Vanilla**

"_Hello?"_

Tori is momentarily confused before the plausible but false idea that Cat's sister may have answered the phone hits her.

"Uh, hey, I'm Tori Vega, a friend of Cat's."

"_Okay," Jade retorts, annoyed, "Why are you calling me? How'd you get my number?"_

"Isn't this her dad's number?" Tori sits back down on her bed. This was the number Cat dialled Friday, and on Friday Cat had talked to her dad. Now either Tori had the wrong number, or Cat did.

"_No," Jade rolls her eyes, even though the person on the other end can't see her irritation, "I can give you Cat's number."_

"Really?" Tori chirps, not as happy about the outcome as she should be. "That'd be great."

_Jade sighs, just what kind of a person would do this? She tells Tori Cat's number and before the woman can thank her, she hangs up. _

Tori sighs, dialling the number the girl had provided her into her rings out before Tori hears Cat's voice prompts her to leave a message.

"Hey, sorry I couldn't answer my phone!" it says, cheerily, "Leave a message though!"

Then it beeps.

"Um, it's getting late Cat," Tori sighs again, "We really need to do our assignment."

She hangs pauses, watching as the time slowly ticks by, she decides to give Cat a few more minutes, then call rings out again and this time Tori decides against leaving a was no way she was going to fail this assignment, sure she could afford to lose a few marks, but Cat couldn't, Tori muses, _Cat is failing music_, as ironic as it was, the music loving red-head was failing the class she so decides to call the Jade, whom she thinks is somehow related to Cat, again because she figures the girl must know Cat's whereabouts.

_"Make this quick," Jade pauses, "Vega."_

"You knew it was me? And yay, you memorized my name...well, surname."

_Jade groans, "I didn't recognize the number and guessed it was you, now hurry your ass up, I don't have time for you." She spins to look at the clock, the Scissoring was about to start and despite watching the movie so many times before, she wasn't about to have some girl stop of her from watching it._

"Uh, Cat's not picking up."

_Jade's heart sinks, if there was one thing Cat was known for, it was answering her cellphone. The shapeshifter doesn't know how she does it, even when Cat's preoccupied, she manages to answer her phone. The worst pops into Jade's head, that something may have happened to Cat._

"Um," Tori continues, after assuming the latter wouldn't be speaking, "Cat's kind of failing music class.. I'm not so great at writing songs and I have to go to my si-"

_"She's what?" Jade interjects, not really caring for whatever else Tori has to say, "She loves music."_

"Well she's started skipping," Tori explains, "And she didn't do the last assignment."

_Jade groans again, she'll defiantly have to talk to Cat about this when she finds the girl. But right now she had more pressing matters, "What happens if she fails this assignment?"_

"She'll fail the class."

_"What is the assignment?"_

"We have to write a song together, memorize it, then perform it."

_"So, you write a song, and give it to Cat tomorrow."_

"I'm not so good at writing songs, Cat's much better, and she really needs to get a good mark."

_Jade bits her lip, rolling it under her teeth. She muses over possible solutions._

"I don't think Cat can memorize it so quickly either, she has to play at least one instrument."

_"Well then why'd you leave it off 'till the last day!" Jade yells back, worry and rage filling her._

Tori flinches, "Cat's been busy lately and distant at school. I barely get the chance to talk to her anymore! I forgot about the assignment because of that."

_Jade shuts her eyes, bringing her other hand to the bridge of her nose and messaging it gently. "We have to find her."_

"We?" Tori gulps, "I have to go to my sister's play."

_Jade breathes out harshly, "We are going to find her because you need to write this song with her."_

"Bu-"

"_You are going to_ _forget about your sister because Cat is the most important thing right now."_

"I-"

_"Meet me by the forest entrance."_

_**Beep. Beep.**_

"What's wrong?" Jon asks, seeing the apparent stress on Jade's face.

Jon doesn't smile, not anymore. He only smiles when Cat's near, and Jade completely understands, she was once the same. It was Cat's cheery disposition that allowed Jade to loosen up and smile, over the years she'd grown up and no longer needed Cat's smiles and peculiar remarks, but Jon needed them just as much as a younger Jade did.

"Cat's not answering her phone," Jade says, patting Jon on the head. "She's probably at your old home. Probably sleeping."

Jon nods, "Find her quickly please."

"I will champ," Jade smiles, "I will."

* * *

She stuffs her reddening hands into the pockets of her black leather jacket, her breath coming out in smoky white puffs. She kicks her booted foot against the worn asphalt. Jade casts her glowing blue eyes downward, her ears ring with soft, light foots steps, as if the person walking was barely on the ground.

She breathes in, blowing a strand of her raven hair out of her eyes as she snaps he head up to face the footsteps. The delicate frame of a teenage girl emerges, flashlight in hand.

Jade's breath gets caught in her throat as she takes in the girl's appearance. A name comes to her head, Vega, and she finally gets why. The girl looks like she's glowing. Her hair catches the moon's light, and her mocha eyes capture the moon's glow, shimmering through Jade causing her heart to forget how to pump blood.

_She looks like a star._

"A-are you the girl I talked to?" The girl, who was equally as taken with Jade as Jade was with her, casts the light of her flash light on to Jade. She marvels at the way the light curves over her face and how her glistening eyes seems to shine even more with the light.

"Vega," Jade spits, amazed by how naturally the name escapes her mouth.

"Yeah, that's me," The girl smiles, "I never got your name."

"Jade," The young shapeshifter takes a whiff of the Tori's scent, she almost forgets to breath when she feels the scent of vanilla laced baked goods fill her. It's so much different from Cat's scent, which is cherries and strawberries with the lingering scent of her hair dye mixing into it. Or even from her own scent, mint and maple.

"Jade," Tori repeats, getting accustomed to the way it sounds.

"Let's get Cat." Jade brushes past Tori, walking down the darkening instinctively follows behind, not the least bit worried about the howls and the glowing eyes behind the trees that she was terrified about before.

Jade's nose isn't as good as Cat's or Beck's, she never blames her mortal mother for that though, but she knows Cat well enough to not have to use her lacking abilities.

They walk in silence, Tori admiring Jade's stride and the latter feeling self-conscious under Tori's obvious scrutiny, until the reach a small house near the outskirts of their city.

"What is this?" Tori finally asks as she tears her eyes away from Jade.

"Cat's old house," Jade explains deadpan, "She's inside." She doesn't bother to explain how she knows that though, she can hear the distinctive murmuring of Cat through the thin walls.

Tori and Jade step up into the house, the brunette's eyes scan over the empty and dirty house as Jade casually walks up the creaking stairs.

Jade wonders into Cat's old room and effortlessly picks up the sleeping redhead and carries her down the stairs while Tori's left to explore what was once the living room._  
_

She finds a dust-coated picture, she stands and looks at it, heart pumping faster at the eery way the eyes of the people in the picture glow. There's four people in the picture, an older man with his arms wrapped around a woman and a light brown haired girl holding a small boy. She bends over to pick the picture up just as Jade finally reaches the bottom step and Cat begins to stir.

Tori lifts the photo off the ground and sirens go off, the house suddenly lights up and Tori drops her flash light in the daze.

Jade curses as she helps a sleepy Cat to her feet, "We gotta go!" Jade yells, urging Tori to move.

Tori nods her eyes dart to the front door.

"Back," mutters Cat, "There are people at the front."

Tori doesn't question Cat and runs to the back of the house, picture in hand and Cat and Jade in tow.

They run onto the lush green that is the backyard, Cat's eyes glow an ominous yellow as her ears perk up."Hunters," she whispers, Jade hears it clearly but Tori hears 'young girls' and is horribly confused, as if the sirens, the picture and Cat's odd behavior, hadn't set up red flags yet.

"W-what's going on?" Tori manages to say, her body shaking.

Cat offers Tori an apologetic smile before turning back to Jade, "What do we do?"Jade mulls something over in her head as she glances from Cat to Tori then Tori to Cat, "We have to run."_  
_

"There's enough space back there," The red-head points to a distant spot behind Tori, "We can run through it before they catch up."

Jade nods and Cat dashes past Tori and into the dark. Jade does the same, but she forcefully picks up Tori in her arms and runs more cautiously.

Tori couldn't be more confused about anything than she is right now about the current happenings. She figures, correctly enough, that now isn't a good time to ask questions.

They stop at a small clearing, Jade puts Tori back on the ground and Cat finally catches a glimpse of what Tori was so tightly holding."You found a picture?" Cat asks, or rather to see it. Tori nods and hands it over, not wanting to explain what had happened when she picked up the picture.**_  
_**

Cat looks at the picture with a more knowing eye, she doesn't see eire, glowing orbs, she sees eyes that reflect the camera flash. She doesn't see a man and a woman smiling, she sees her father and mother in happier days. And when she sees the girl and the little boy, everything hits her at once and she starts to cry.

She never asked to live this kind of life, she never asked to be hunted and priced. She's lived normal and she's seen normal, and that's what she wants. Not that she has a choice, not that she would take it even of she has one because has she looks up into Jade's worried blue eyes, she knows that she was meant for this. She just needs to figure out what _this_ is.

"Thank you," Cat looks up at Tori, her eyes red and teary, and smiles.

Tori gives back a weary smile because she isn't sure what she's done.

"I'll work on the music assignment," Cat wipes away a stray tear, "I'll give you the finished stuff tomorrow, it'll have the same tune as 'make it shine' so it shouldn't be too hard to memorize. You can go to your sister's play, Tori. Thank you."

The brunette nods, unsure of what to say, she's pushed out of the clearing and on to the road by Jade, who understand that Cat needs her space.**_  
_**

Tori glances at her watch, her sister's play finished fifteen minutes ago and the buzzing she had felt in her pocket earlier was probably from a worried mother and an aggravated sister.

"My sis-"

"Forget everything you saw," Jade spits, "Vega, forget it all."

Tori spins to look at Jade, her usually confident blue eyes shone with something only a hair short from uncertainty mixed with a distant longing that , Tori figures, was there from before.

"Everything?" Tori smiled coyly.

"Everything."

"Even you, Jade?"

Jade gulped, she knew Cat could hear them and she really didn't want Cat to hear. She didn't know why, but she didn't want Cat and Tori in ear-shot of each other while she was in the presence of either one of them.

Tori gazed down at her shoes, "Do you happen to have enough change for the bus on you?" Tori could have called her sister or mother to come pick her up, but the sly human part of her brain convinced her that one late night bus ride with drunk old men would be worth it.

And Tori couldn't be more right.

Jade shoved a hand into her pocket and pulled out a few coins, she always had enough change for the bus fare, always. She handed the coins to Tori, her heart flipping as Tori's long, delicate hands made contact with her's.

Tori smiles at Jade and is met with a nervous grin, she turns around and walks down the gloomy road, a bus stop not too far away. Jade notices an air of confidence seep out of Tori, as if she wasn't the least bit curious about what had happened and instead she had piqued the interest of someone else.

And Jade couldn't be more right.

/

"_The power of a glance has been so much abused in love stories, that it has come to be disbelieved in. Few people dare now to say that two beings have fallen in love because they have looked at each other. Yet it is in this way that love begins, and in this way only." _

_Victor Hugo, les Misérables_

* * *

**Sorry for the wait! I re-wrote this chapter a lot of times, I'm not satisfied with this right now but it'll have to do has the Tori/Jade relationship kicks next chapter (in other words, they kiss). I just have to set the feelings in this chapter so yep. I also went to watch les mis for the tenth time yesterday, I don't think there's something I love more than Les Mis. The book, The original Broadway musical, the crappy version my high school did and the brilliant movie. **

**As always, thanks for reading! Feedback is welcome!**


	5. Trouble for me

**Trouble for me**

She steps into the burn ward, her nose clogged with the foul smell of rotting flesh and her ears equally as crowded with sounds of crying and coughing. She hates the burn ward and she's sure no one exists that actually likes the burn ward. She tightens her grip on the bouquet of yellow violets she's holding and ventures deeper into the ward, braving the strong scents and the agonizing sounds. She reaches the last door in the ward, the plate reads "Mark West".

She pushes the door open, the room is as white and as stained with the scent of disinfectant as she remembers it being. There's a man with a burnt face cradling a small rag doll.

"Jade," He whispers sweetly to the doll, "your mother and I are just going through a tough time. I just love her more than she loves me. Make sure you find someone good, Jade, someone who loves you more than me but the same as you love him...or ah- her."

Jade takes a seat beside Mark and sets the yellow violets on the counter.

"Hi Mark," She says, the odd feeling of calling her father by his first name long behind her.

"Katelyn?" He turns to face Jade, his burnt face and blind eyes struggle to show the smile he's giving her.

"Jade," He smiles, tilting the doll towards Jade. "You remember Katelyn, right?"

Jade smiles bitterly at the doll that was posing as her, "Hi, Jade." While she may have gotten over calling her father Mark, she could never put past the idea of this doll being her, it looked nothing like her. It had perfect blond hair and it wore a frilly pink dress that Jade wouldn't even dare to picture on herself.

"I brought you yellow violets," Jade picks up the flowers off the counter and places them in Mark's lap.

"My favourite!" He places his hand over the petals, gently as to not crush them. "Have I told you about how they grow around my house?"

"Yes," Jade nods, "But I wouldn't mind hearing it again." And she really wouldn't she loves haring her father talk and she knows how much her father loved to talk.

He smiles wider, "You're such a wonderful lass Katelyn, your parents must be proud."

Jade gulps,"They are, my father tells me _all the time._" She chuckles dryly.

"Well," Mark starts, setting the flowers and the doll to the side. "I live in this small cabin, in the woods. It's nice a cozy, just my wife and my daughter Jade- well I don't live there right now, but Jade says my cancer's getting better and I can leave soon."

Jade grimaces, the doll isn't, wasn't and can't say anything and her father defiantly didn't have cancer, not only was this doll mute but it was a liar too.

"And," he continues, "I'm not sure if Marisol is my wife anymore, we got into many fights before my cancer outbreak and she hasn't visited me once! But, but, I love her, more than anything and I know once I see her again and I tell her how I feel, we'll fall back in love, we always do."

Jade smiles meekly, every time she hears this story it hurts more and more.

"But life is good," He pauses to take a deep breath to emphasize how great his life is, "Anyway, yellow violets grow around our cabin. Marisol loves them, when we were kids, she would make a crown for herself and for me out of them," He smiles at the thought, "'King and queen of the forest' she would say, god, how much I miss her."

Jade gulps, she wants to tell him to stop, to stop hurting her but she's never seen her dad look happier. She would never dare tell her dad the truth, that Marisol was dead, that Jade wasn't the sweet little girl anymore and in Marisol's last moments, she never loved Mark the same way he loved her, not anymore.

"_You know how Cat's parents are on the verge of divorce, right?" She turns to her side and coughs out blood, not wanting the crimson liquid to touch her daughter, "I don't think I could ever do that, I would wait until you understood and accepted it Jade because you come first, always."_

"_Mom," Jade pleads, "Don't tal-"_

"_No," Marisol cups Jade's cheek, marvelling at her own blood stained hands, "Your dad may not be the best dad out there, but he's your dad and I loved him for a reason. Loved- hah, yeah, I guess that's it Jade. Divorce, it works like that, the heart wants what the heart wants, and you can't deny your heart what it wants, Jade, you'll kill yourself that way. Your dad just loves everyone more than he should dear. I knew it would never last. The day we got married I could see all the love in his eyes..there was only uncertainty in mine and- and, I didn't do anything Jade. I gave birth to you, and god I don't regret it but, I was so uncertain. I was so young, Jade." She pauses, closing her eyes._

"We would fight sometimes, when things got bad, we would fight. Right in front of Jade too."

"_He loved me more than anyone else had before but-"_

"It wasn't enough, not for us, things got worse. I tried to stay strong for Jade..."

"_I thought I was strong enough."_

"I broke. God, Katelyn, promise me-"

"_Promise me, Jade."_

"That no matter what-"

"_You go for it, take what you want and run."_

"You become everything you were born to be."

"_Listen the oversized head on your shoulders but follow that chunk of red in your chest."_

"You try to be the happiest you can be."

"_It's not about losing, or winning."_

"It's about whether you can or will."

"_There is no can't, there is no won't."_

"If it's not broken,"

"_And it can't be fixed."_

"You get a new one."

"_No matter what, Jade."_

"Katelyn."

"_I love you and you don't need to be strong."_

"You don't need to do anything, for anyone."

"_You only-"_

"need to be there, for those you love, and remember-"

"_There's no wrong, there's only you and you are always right."_

"You don't need to understand everything or anything really, just breath and I'll be happy Kate." Mark closes his eyes.

"_Mom!" Jade cries out, shaking her mother rapidly, her heartbeat was gone._

"Can you take Jade away? I don't want her to see me cry." A tear manages to seep it's away out of Mark's shut eyelids.

Jade places a hand over the doll's eyes, for some reason, she doesn't want the doll to see her cry either.

* * *

Suddenly the pounding music became silent. The flashing lights merged into one great white light surrounding their bodies. Jade's never felt as distant from the world than she did in that moment. Her throat had gone dry and her heart refused to beat.

"Hi."

* * *

Cat had become increasingly distant, she was torn between two lives and it boiled down to the point where she could decide which life was her life. Was she Cat when she was with her family and friends in the wood, or was she Cat when she was with her friends at their small town's art school, where she pretended she was human?

Who was Cat? Cat didn't know the answer, and neither did Tori, but Tori was more bent on finding it.

She consequently wondered into Wesker's house after learning that he was the legal guardian of Cat.

"_I don't know where Cat is." He hadn't been ashamed of that fact before, but upon hearing himself say it, he was. _

He handed her a crumpled piece of tissue paper with an address scribbled down in blue pen.

The tissue led Tori to a grimy club in the "shady" part of town, as Tori's mother would often put it when ever Tori questioned why she had never set foot in this district.

The smell was intriguing, alcohol mixed with cheap perfume and something else Tori couldn't quite place. The smell was strong through, like it was trying to hide something- or make note of.

She dressed herself in her best black gown and curled her hair up, they way that made her look like she was the legal age to enter a club. Tori stepped her heeled-foot into the club, the music suddenly blaring in her ears.

_Black jack, whiskey straight _

Her eyes scanned the crowd for a mop of red hair, Wesker had only told Tori that Cat frequents the club. He even shared with Tori how he knew, he had followed Cat the first few nights she went out, Tori knew how hard it was to sneak up on Cat (the girl seemed to have super hearing or something) but Wesker seemed like he'd know how to sneak up on even Cat, so the Latina didn't question it.

_Every day changes your life _

When she would sport red flashing by he she'd yell, "Cat!". Sometimes, a woman or a man would turn around to flip her off or some drunk would yell "Where?". Either way, Tori wasn't progressing.

_You got the look that you know _

She surveyed the bar, half-hoping to see Cat and half-not, as that would mean Cat would be with this crowd of drunks. No matter how hard Tori tried, she just couldn't see Cat here of all places. But then again, over the course of a few weeks, all she had known about Cat came toppling down.

_You're real bad, yeah, baby, you're right _

It worried Tori at first, knowing so little, but then it morphed into something else. Tori wouldn't admit her reasons to even herself.

_Everybody loves you _

Lost in her own thoughts, she almost misses the flash of blue. Tori catches the blue and her heart flutters. Her eyes trace the black figure behind the blue, they way it slides from one side to another and everyone danced with it.

_Baby, you're the king of the night _

Or so it seemed to Tori, who was wonder-struck.

_And I'm the only one making sure to stay_

Then it sunk in to Tori, what that black figure was, or rather who.

_Out of your sight _

Jade.

The beat of the song slowed,

_You know I can make your night  
You wanna get it?  
You got something that I like  
But I might regret it._

Tori inhaled, stepping forward in an almost-march.

The beat picked up again as it reached its climax,

_Me and you were a disaster._

The blue eye's locked on her own.

_And you're only a danger to me_

Tori's head throbbed, as if to tell her this was a bad idea.

_But the party ain't the same without you_

Tori's heart pounded as she stepped closer to Jade, as if to warn Tori that there would be no turning back.

_That's why you're so good for everybody else _

"Hi." Tori smiled.

_But you're trouble for me. _

"Hi," Jade replied, stepping closer to Tori with a reeling mind and a lost body. All the emotions at the same time making her feel numb rather than over-whelmed, she didn't know what to think.

_Yeah, you're trouble for me. _

Jade smirked suddenly, as Tori reddened when Jade placed her cold hands on her cheek.

_Trouble for me._

Jade leaned in and Tori shut her eyes, anticipating. She wasn't sure if she wanted what she was anticipating, but at the same time she knew she did.

Jade's lips finally met her own and Tori melting into the kiss, as if she had never kissed before. And in ways, she hadn't, not like this. The lyrics of the song filled her and Tori couldn't help but to also realize that no good would come from this.

But at the same time, she couldn't hold back.

She wrapped her arms around Jade, she tried to convince herself she was ready.

Tori moaned, her eyes fluttering open and then closed. Tori's stomach churned, her mind had already began throwing out all she had built up.

Tori and Jade both realized things they wouldn't dare to admit to themselves or eachother.

/

"_Nothing is more real than these great shocks which two souls give each other when exchanging this passion." _

_- Victor Hugo, Les mis (I think, this quote is off memory)_

* * *

_**Sorry for the long wait! There's this thing called school and apparently you're supposed to dedicate time to it.**_

_**Like always, thank you for reading!**_

The song's "Trouble for me". Yes I do like Britney.


End file.
